International Viewpoint is published under the responsibility of the Bureau of the Fourth International. Signed articles do not necessarily reflect editorial policy. Articles can be reprinted with acknowledgement, and a live link if possible.

IV517 - February 2018

Books, you know, they’re not just commodities. The profit motive often is in conflict with the aims of art. We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art - the art of words.

Ursula K. Le Guin in her 2014 speech accepting the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters

1. The “Macedonian issue” is not a historic national issue, but rather a modern political one. The formation of the Macedonian nationality and national consciousness follows a parallel course with that of the other Balkan nations (Greek, Serbian, Albanian, Bulgarian), throughout the long term collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the ensuing armed conflicts among the newborn nations (Macedonian Struggle, Balkan Wars, First World War). From this point of view, two things follow. First, the term “Macedonian” used to define the nation, is just as old as the others in the region and is not an invention of the 90’s with irredentist motives. Second, the creation of new states, whose borders were drawn in the blood of the peoples of the region, did not solve any “national question”, but on the contrary many ethnic minorities remained inside each state and were persecuted without mercy. For this reason alone, the historical demand for a Socialist Federation of the Balkans remains a compass for the peoples of the area living together.

In early January 2016, news of mass sexual assaults on the New Year’s Eve in the German city of Cologne was dominating headlines in Western media. Reports of theft and sexual assaults were multiplying by the day and many were describing the perpetrators as "refugees" or Arab men.

Wage agreements becoming more complex, growing gaps between categories of employees, collective provisions that are less and less protective, no overall reduction of working hours... The negative points of the 2018 wage agreement in the metal industry are really stark.

Gilbert Achcar met with Syrian Corner during Syria Awareness Week 2018. Achcar posits that the Syrian conflict is far from over and that for Bashar al-Assad to establish a new political framework, an accord between the US and Russia is necessary. Achcar says the role of Iran in a future Syria is one of the key issues at stake, and discusses the Turkish war against the PYD, the regional role of Saudi Arabia, the international peace conferences for Syria, the recent demonstrations in Iran, and the new US foreign policy for the Middle East in the interview below.

On January 24, the Regional Court of Brazil’s Fourth Region confirmed the conviction of former President Lula for corruption, in a case concerning the alleged ownership of an apartment in Guarujá (São Paulo). Lula became ineligible from running for political office under a law promulgated by his own government. And he can now be arrested. There are several other lawsuits against Lula, which are still ongoing. There is no doubt that there was corruption in his government (as in all other Brazilian governments in recent decades). And there is no doubt that Lula was involved, and there must be some evidence against him.

In February 1968, the liberation forces in South Vietnam began the “Tet offensive”. It was conducted on a very large scale throughout South Vietnam, including Saigon. Its international reach was considerable, it galvanized anti-imperialist and national liberation movements and accelerated the youth radicalization in Japan, the USA and Europe. It represented a turning point in the war and in the take-off of resistance at the very heart of the US military.

November 2017 marked the centenary of two of the most decisive events in the twentieth century: the Bolshevik-led revolution in Russia and the Balfour Declaration in Britain. The Russian Revolution was executed by the Bolsheviks in the name of peace and international socialism; the Balfour Declaration was a British government commitment to support a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine. This was not simply a remarkable coincidence. At loggerheads were two mutually exclusive political objectives: the one to promote worldwide, anti-imperialist revolution; the other, to further British imperial interests in the Middle East.

The Kurdish struggle in Syria and Iraq has witnessed a number of recent changes, with clear contrasts in each country. The broad victory of the “yes” in the Iraqi autonomous Kurdistan region’s independence referendum on September 25, 2017 was rooted in the long historical will of the Kurdish people to establish a state. It was also the consequence of a violent history of oppression inflicted upon the Iraqi-Kurdish population by various previous Iraqi nationalist authoritarian regimes.

It is with a profound sense of sadness that we at AIDC have heard the news of the passing of Carl Brecker, the first Chairperson of the Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC). We send our condolences to his family, especially his devoted daughters Tania and Dee, their children as well as his sister Valerie and her husband Ivan.

After weeks of moral preparation, diplomatic pressure and massive disinformation, the Turkish state has finally attacked the predominantly Kurdish enclave of Afrin, located in north-western Syria. Skilfully playing on the cleavages between Washington and Moscow, the Turkish President has launched a major military operation involving air strikes, the deployment of Islamist militias and the incursion of Turkish troops on Syrian soil ready for the offensive.

Mass demonstrations took place in the cities of Shiraz, Khorramabad and Kerman Shah, a predominantly Kurdish city, to protest the high cost of living, poverty, unemployment and participation in the war in Syria, which caused damage to the Iranian economy according to the demonstrators.